I research the military's role in political and economic change, particularly in democratizing and developing countries.

In my dissertation, I explore why militaries sometimes respond to mass anti-regime protests with loyalty shifts, and what impact these shifts have on post-protest political development.

As a Research Fellow at the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security & Diplomacy, I supervise a project on private military and security companies and their services around the world.

I am a 2016 awardee of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict PhD Fellowship.

​​I teach courses on international politics at the University of Denver.

Contact me at: kara [dot] kingma [at] du [dot] edu